CBI calls for ethnicity pay gap details to be public

BRITISH companies should start proactively publishing their ethnic minority pay gap before being forced to by the government, one of the country’s biggest business groups has said.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which first published its own pay stats based on ethnicity in April last year, has called on organisations with more than 250 employees to follow suit.

“Closing the UK’s ethnicity pay gap is about making our society fairer and overcoming inequality at work,” said Matthew Fell, the CBI’s chief UK policy director.

Although the government might take action on ethnic pay reporting, like it did on gender pay gaps, businesses should get ahead of the curve, the CBI said.

It said that racial equality in the UK labour market could boost the economy by £24 billion each year.

“Not only is it the right thing to do: the business case is watertight. Diverse companies are better companies,” Mr Fell said.

He said that many companies are doing good work and increasing the number of people they hire from ethnic minority backgrounds.

“But many companies have so much more they should be doing.

“Firms have to get better at speaking about race at work; developing campaigns to encourage employees to share their ethnicity; and creating strategies to improve BAME representation all the way up to the boardroom. “

The CBI also published a guide on how companies can report their ethnicity pay gap in a responsible way.

Law firm Eversheds Sutherland plans to publish its ethnicity pay gap for the first time this year.